These hands-on workshops offer open studios, faculty presentations, critiques and feedback, and an exhibit of faculty work with artist receptions. The small class sizes ensure maximum interaction with instructors and other participants.
Instructors: Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas (Diné) and Lynda Teller Pete (Diné)
This beginner-friendly, hands-on workshop introduces you to the world of Navajo weaving as you create your own Navajo-inspired rug. Guided by two world-renowned Navajo women weavers, you will also gain insight into the cultural significance of this art form through their lived experiences.
Instructor: Tony Soares
This hands-on workshop introduces you to the history of pottery-making styles unique to Cahuilla communities in Southern California.
Instructors: Ramson Lomatewama (Hopi) and Ayen Talashoma (Hopi)
Add some heat to your life in this exciting workshop that explores the fundamentals of glassblowing through the unique cultural lens of renowned Hopi glass artists. You will be introduced to the essentials of hot glass art along with the technical and philosophical elements that inspire creativity, all supported by expert one-on-one guidance.
Due to popular demand, we will also offer a second session. You may enroll in both weeks or just one. For returning students, the second session provides an opportunity to build on your newly established glassmaking skills and advance to creating larger works with greater detail.
Melanie Tallmadge Sainz (Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin)
This workshop will present a unique approach to learning how to procure, process, and create art with porcupine quills. Utilizing methods and techniques unique to Ho-Chunk people, you will utilize porcupine quills to embellish a project of your choosing. This workshop is ideal for those eager to learn and employ a new form of crafted adornment.
Instructor: Rick Paulus
Enjoy an immersive calligraphy journey as you explore a broad range of tools, materials, and techniques, from historic to contemporary, with expert guidance throughout.
Instructor: Cat Orlando
In this two-day workshop, create your own mosaic using vibrant colored glass. Learn how to design, cut, and arrange your pieces on a chosen surface, resulting in a one-of-a-kind work of art.
Instructors: Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas (Diné) and Lynda Teller Pete (Diné)
Idyllwild Arts is honored to welcome renowned Navajo weavers and sisters Barbara Teller Ornelas and Lynda Teller Pete for their 29th year teaching in the summer program. This Level II workshop offers a more in-depth experience ideal for beginning to intermediate weaving students as well as more advanced students who have projects they may need troubleshooting with or completing.
Instructor: Jacob Meders (Mechoopda/Maidu)
This workshop, led by master screen printer Jacob Meders, introduces the art of screen printing with a focus on cultural identity and altered perceptions of place. Participants will develop their own designs using 2-D principles, create a matrix for screen exposure, and experiment with techniques like Rubylith cutting. This hands-on experience includes printing on paper, fabric, and t-shirts, allowing for an interdisciplinary exploration of personal and cultural expression.
Instructor: John Brosio
A class in full color, alla prima painting with oils, from observation.
Instructors: Ramson Lomatewama (Hopi) and Ayen Talashoma (Hopi)
Keep the heat going with the second session of this exciting workshop that continues exploration into the fundamentals of glassblowing through the unique cultural lens of renowned Hopi glass artists. In this workshop, we will introduce you to the fundamentals of hot glass art as well as the technical and philosophical elements to inspire your work with expert one-on-one guidance.
*You may enroll in both weeks or just one. For returning students, the second session will be an opportunity to dive deeper into your newly established glassmaking skills and advance to making larger objects with greater detail.
Instructor: Rose Ann Hamilton (Cahuilla)
Learn to mindfully gather, process, and work with plant materials to create a Cahuilla Basket. Along the way, you will learn about Cahuilla Basketry’s cultural significance in Cahuilla communities.
Instructor: Jennifer Ben (Diné)
Come together with students of all levels at the round table to bead, connect, laugh, and learn. With step-by-step guidance and live demonstrations, you’ll design beautiful wearable art pieces using premium materials like Swarovski crystals and Czechoslovakian glass-cut beads.
Instructors: Dorothy Ami (Hopi-Tewa) and Emerson Ami (Hopi-Tewa)
Dive into a truly transformative workshop as you learn the Hopi-Tewa method of creating polychrome pottery, utilizing traditional materials and techniques such as hand building, polishing, painting, and traditional firing utilizing dehydrated sheep dung.
Instructor: Richard Tsosie (Navajo)
Design patterns and create colorful collages in semi-precious stones as you learn how to operate lapidary equipment to cut, grind, and polish stones to set into the silver form of your choice, such as bracelets, pendants, belt buckles, and rings, which you will create!
*Due to popular demand, we are excited to offer two Navajo Inlay Jewelry sessions. You may enroll in both weeks or just one. For returning students, the second session provides the opportunity to dive deeper into your newly established jewelry making skills and work on additional projects or continue a larger project.
Instructor: Roy Talahaftewa (Hopi)
Explore Indigenous ingenuity and learn to cast jewelry utilizing a unique form of limestone called Tufa stone. This labor-intensive process involves many steps but will leave you with a lasting imprint and insight into a unique technique in silversmithing.
Instructor: Sienna Thomas
Learn, explore and gain a rich cultural respect and awareness in this weekend workshop exploring California Native Plants and their nutritional properties.
Instructor: Cat Orlando
Transform old books into unique works of art by turning their pages into a canvas for self-expression. Explore mixed media techniques including collage, painting, cutting, folding, stamping, layering, and journaling.
Instructor: Nīa MacKnight (Anishinaabe/Lakhóta/Scottish)
This class will explore visual narrative techniques through alternative, experimental photography processes while drawing inspiration from the local ecologies of Idyllwild.
Instructor: James Johnson (Tlingit)
This workshop will introduce you to and get you started on your journey to design and carve in yellow cedar a Northwest Coast inspired wood carving utilizing methods, techniques and philosophies rooted in Tlingit culture. This intensive learning experience will highlight wood carving techniques and Northwest Coast line-drawing traditions.
Instructor: David Johnson
Discover the art of traditional seat weaving as you learn to hand cane a patterned frame and rush weave a small footstool. The class also includes tips on selecting and shopping for used chairs to restore.
Instructor: Richard Tsosie (Navajo)
Learn to design patterns and craft vibrant collages from semi-precious stones while gaining hands-on experience with lapidary equipment. You’ll cut, grind, and polish your stones, then set them into a silver bracelet form of your own creation!
*Due to popular demand, we are excited to offer this second Navajo Inlay Jewelry session. You may enroll in both weeks or just one. For returning students, this is the opportunity to dive deeper into your newly established jewelrymaking skills and work on additional projects or continue a larger project.
Instructors: Barbara Jean Teller Ornelas (Diné) and Lynda Teller Pete (Diné)
Idyllwild Arts is honored to welcome renowned Navajo weavers and sisters Barbara Teller Ornelas and Lynda Teller Pete for their 29th year teaching in the summer program. This Level III workshop offers an in-depth experience ideal for intermediate to advanced weaving students who have projects they may need troubleshooting with or completing.
Get a hands-on introduction to the technical and creative foundations of black-and-white photography. Using a pinhole camera, 35mm camera, and large-format 4×5 camera, you’ll learn how to control exposure through aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. You’ll shoot on black-and-white film, process it by hand using traditional chemical methods, and produce gelatin silver prints in the darkroom. Along the way, you’ll develop a working knowledge of light metering, depth of field, and contrast control.
*This is a Junior Artists program and will follow those guidelines outlined in our FAQ section.
Teen artists transform the Creative Technology Lab into their personal “Inventor’s Shed,” where they’ll explore digital fabrication, rapid prototyping, and hands-on design through projects that blend art, technology, and imagination. No prior experience is required, just curiosity and a willingness to build, experiment, and innovate.
*This is a Teen program and will follow those guidelines outlined in our FAQ section.
This week-long program is designed to introduce students to new, bold, and unconventional ways of creating three-dimensional art. Young artists will discover the joy of making one-of-a-kind designs, exploring their creativity through texture, form, and imagination.
*This is a Junior Artists program and will follow those guidelines outlined in our FAQ section.
Discover the beauty of the mountains as your creativity comes alive in the forest. Each day, you’ll spend half your time learning the fundamentals of drawing, exploring traditional techniques that will help you see the world in new ways. The other half of the day will be dedicated to sculpture, where you’ll design and build imaginative three-dimensional artworks inspired by nature and your own creativity.
*This is a Junior Artists program and will follow those guidelines outlined in our FAQ section.
Explore digital fabrication, rapid prototyping, and hands-on design through projects that blend art, technology, and imagination. No prior experience is required, just curiosity and a willingness to build, experiment, and innovate.
*This is a Junior Artists program and will follow those guidelines outlined in our FAQ section.
